Just Friends
by Cobalt Blue Sphere
Summary: Sometimes, Pokémon and human are more than just companions. One Pokémon learns that this is the exception, not the rule, and gets less than she bargained for when she finds that her trainer won't go for anything more physical than a headbutting of minds.


Just an idea that's been sitting in my head for awhile - there's all those smut stories where the trainer says no and the Pokémon says yes, and they end up in bed. Thought I'd break that mold by having the human say no and then actually worm their way out of it. Planning on possibly doing another two chapters after, but maybe not.

* * *

"So, do you love me?" A different voice mumbled from behind him. It wasn't his clone's this time – it was a woman's voice. She'd probably lifted it from someone she'd heard in a store or somesuch, and worked on it in her spare time. It was an unfamiliar voice, but he knew who was speaking and was used to hearing a multitude of different voices from her.

"You know I do," he said quietly, eyes still half-closed.

"Mmmh? How much?" She asked, her voice a little bit less dulled.

"More'n anything I've got, Rynn."

"What, really?" He opened his eyes now, her almost disappointed tone bringing him out of his half-sleep. "That's not hard. We've got more debts than anything else to our name,"

"Alright," he took a moment to consider his words, "More than anything or anyone I have or will see, or anything. How's that?"

"That's what I wanted to hear." She pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him.

A moment of silence descended, and he took the opportunity to close his eyes again. He heard her take a deep breath, as though she was steeling herself for something. Anyone else probably would've been content with hearing that, but Rynn could never leave off once she'd started something - especially not now.

"Reckon you could prove it to me?" Her voice was quieter, but not fainter – if anything, it was even more deliberate.

His brows furrowed slightly over his closed eyes as he tried to think of what to say. He had a feeling that he knew what she meant by that, but couldn't risk having the wrong impression. She hadn't moved any or breathed harder or anything since she said it; was she just joking? Just another idle quip, like she so often threw out? Wouldn't be the first time; she especially favoured dirty jokes when she had an audience she could embarrass him in front of, although she at least had the tact to disguise herself as a human when in company. He couldn't think what would be appropriate to say, and the silence stretched out again like a spoiled taffy. Not wanting to let it fester any longer, he fell back on the only thing he could think.

"What?"

He felt Rynn's breathing hitch in her chest a little this time, before her illusory voice whispered in his ear again.

"Do you think you could prove it to me?" Her words were careful and her voice was as level as she could keep it, but it still trembled with something; anticipation? Nervousness? He couldn't quite tell.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked quietly.

"Best idea," she replied, those two words coming easily.

He wriggled out of her grasp and rolled himself around to face her. She was staring at him intently, claws now held close to her chest.

"Bearing in mind that you're a Pokémon?" He hoped she would pick up on the implication – specifically that he thought it was a severely bad idea – from those words alone.

"Thanks, eyeball," her speech was gaining confidence, and an air of sarcasm. "Doesn't matter anyway, I can be anything. Anything."

"But you're still a Pokémon, and I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"Who the hell's gonna find out from a Zoroark of all things? Unless you were planning on blabbing?"

"You know that I wasn't, but I mean I'm pretty sure it's heavily illegal. More than just slap on the wrist and fine illegal,"

"How would you know? When have you been going around reading law-papers or whatever the hell?"

"I haven't," he backtracked quickly, "But I've heard things and I don't want to take that chance."

"Chance? No chance," She grasped his hand in her paws. "Point's moot, there's no chance of anything going wrong. Nobody would find out, I wouldn't let them."

"'Nothing will go wrong', famous last words of Rynn and -"

"Shut up," She shook his hand in her own, looking at him insistently. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Their gazes met and held, and they each stared into the other's eyes; her searching for any trace of acceptance and him searching for any trace of doubt in her own words. His mind was racing, trying to think of what would be appropriate to say; it was clear that this issue was deadly serious for her, and what he said could hit her harder than he might think. He decided to abandon subtlety but hopefully not tact, and steeled himself to say what had to be said.

"I can't, Rynn," he finally said. Almost immediately her eyes were cast down, ears drooped low and her grip on his hand loosened, He kept his gaze on her intently, willing her to understand. "I can't trust you – or us, with doing something like that. Too much could go wrong, way too much. Not throwing you away just for a night's cheap pleasure. And... you're a Pokémon. I couldn't do that. I couldn't."

Rynn stayed quiet. She took her hands back to herself and tucked her head against her chest, a sudden melancholy seeming to creep across her, and he hoped to high heaven that he hadn't mortally offended her. He looked away from her, back down to the sheets on the bed they were sharing. An uneasy silence descended, and eventually he rolled onto his back, hoping she could consider the matter dead and not be too put out.

As he lay back looking at the roof, he thought about the implications of what she'd said. He'd wondered once or twice if she'd genuinely meant what she'd purported to be just a joke, but had never really considered it beyond a fleeting thought. They'd had an audience on most of those occasions after all, and surely she wouldn't have been so stupid or so crass. Neither would she give up the opportunity to entertain in favour of pursuing an argument, it was just who she was.

Now he wasn't sure if she'd been trying to hint at this for so long, and only just worked up the courage to really do something about it. A small twinge of guilt assailed him as that thought crossed his mind, but he was sure that what he'd said was best. He couldn't afford to lose her; as she herself had said, she was really the only important thing he had.

Minutes passed like this. He almost began to wonder if she had actually given up the ghost.

"You could trust me, you know." Her voice was quiet, but cut through the silence like butter. He turned his head and found her looking up at the roof like he had been, hands still at her chest.

"Huh?"

"I think we could, I think if we wanted to we could," She turned her head to look at him, all trace of bravado gone. Instead there was only hesitancy, mixed with a mote of hope. "You, uh… you sure you don't want to?"

"We couldn't, Rynn," he said flatly. "We couldn't. We're too different."

"We're too _different?_" She asked incredulously. She pushed herself up to sit upright on the bed and spread her arms out, palms up, inviting him to look at her. "What about us is _too different?_"

"Well, let's see," he started sarcastically. "You've got the long red hair, every other part of you being covered in fur, you've got that bow-legged thing goin' on -"

"Gimme one thing that actually matters," she snapped.

"How about everything I just said, and more? We're different, Rynn. You're a Pokémon, I'm not."

"And you really think that that's enough reason? Huh? You really think that actually matters?

"It does matter," he said, exasperation and desperation equal in his voice. "It's against the law, Rynn."

"Why? Because some old guy in his tower of power said so?" Her voice was full of disdain. "And you actually think that's good enough? That's enough reason to ignore me, is it?"

"That's not why, and I'm not ignoring you," he growled, exasperation rising. "I'm telling you no. It wouldn't work, Rynn, and that it's illegal - that's not even half the reason."

"Then gimme the other half, that first half is stupid. You're acting as if anyone would find out."

"They _could_, Rynn, and if anyone did we'd probably be looking _up_ at the grass!"

"Quit exaggerating and give me the other damn reason!"

"I told you, we're _different_! One of us is at a severe physical disadvantage here, Rynn, and – and doing _that_, it's supposed to be an act between _equals_. We're _too different_, alright?"

"When has that ever been a problem?" She said heatedly. "I could've fucked you up six ways from Sunday any old day, and I never did! What more do you want?"

"It _is_ a problem, Rynn. As long as one of us can, you know, kill the other without half a thought, we can't do it."

"Do you really think I'd do that?" Her voice sounded a mix between hurt and incredulous.

"It's not about whether you _would_, it's about whether you _could_! And you could do that! Look at you, look at your claws! You're _built_ for fucking things up, Rynn! We can't... you know, we can't do that."

She was silent for a quite a few seconds, simply starting at him intently. Of course she had to respond eventually, she just couldn't help but prolong the argument he wanted to end. "Of all the stupid things I've heard you say, that probably takes the cake, you know. For most stupid."

"What?" He probably would've been offended if her comment hadn't been so unexpected.

"That's not what it's about. It's about being able to do that – to, you know, hurt the other really badly, and then _not _doing it. It's about trust, you know. You trust me, right? To not do that? As much as I trust you?"

"Uh - I guess -"

"And you know I'd never take advantage of that, right? How I could hurt you really bad, but I won't? Just like how you'd never take advantage of that Pokéball thing, right?"

"I…"

"Then what more do you need?"

"I – I just - What would you know about it, anyway?" he averted his gaze, unable to meet the conviction in her eyes.

"Probably a damn sight more than you, ya cocky fuck," she sighed and dropped herself back down onto the bed. "Look, I know how it's supposed to go. Even with just another human, you could get wrecked bad, but you're trusting them not to. No difference here, only different thing is _how _I'd do it as opposed to a greedy little human girl's kind of life-wrecking. See, there's… I just mean, it's the same. There's no reason that we couldn't, or that we shouldn't, if you're worried about something like that. If you only wanted to, then we could. And… well, are you _sure _you don't want to?"

"No, I'm not sure, Rynn," he grumbled. "How can I be sure? Even if you're right, then there's still, if we're caught or if anyone figures it out, we're toast. Especially me, I'll probably never get a job again, it's – it's a dirty thing, Rynn, I bet anyone who knows wouldn't give me the time o' day. If that goes on my record…"

"It won't. Trust me," she said confidently, an air of bravado returning to her.

"No, so much can go wrong. How can you be sure?"

"It's real easy," she smiled. "Trust me."

"Will you _think about it_ instead of just saying 'trust me'?" He snapped. "Think about it! What if anyone even _guesses_, Rynn? Anyone investigates and it's over. And, I mean – I just – what if, you know… what if you have a kid? How would we keep _that_ a secret, huh?"

"Can that even happen, do you know?"

"No, I don't! Do you?" She shrugged, and he continued loudly. "There you go, that's _another_ thing to worry about then. Not to mention that we're only barely keeping two mouths fed here. See what I'm trying to say here? There's too much that could go wrong. You can't just write it all off by saying 'trust me'."

She was quiet again for another moment, eyes cast down, before she heaved a great sigh.

"I… I suppose if that's how you feel…"

"Rynn, I just – I don't want anything else to go wrong. Please don't take it badly, Rynn…"

"I'm not, but… you're not just knocking me back because I'm… different, right? You were listening to what I was saying?"

"I was, and I'm not."

"And you know I meant what I said? I do want to, and I do think we could -"

"I do, Rynn. I get it."

"Just think about it," she said quietly. "I meant it."

"I will. You know that."

"Right," she said quietly. She flopped down onto the bed and rolled to face away from him. "Okay. Goodnight."

"… G'night, Rynn."


End file.
